pay-sone-aluko-of-fulham

Sone Aluko was delighted with how Fulham ruthlessly killed off Reading on Saturday afternoon – especially as the Whites have been less than clinical during this Championship campaign.

The Nigerian forward scored a sensational individual goal in the second half that capped a fine run with a measured finish and it was Fulham’s potency in front of goal that really excited Aluko. The victory moved Slavisa Jokanovic’s side to just three points outside the play-off places ahead of a crucial clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Aluko told the club’s official website:

It was a good day. That’s the quality we’ve got. When a lot of people say we’re not clinical and that we miss chances, we take it a bit personally because we know what we can do. In training we finish goals well and our build-up play is fantastic, so it’s just getting the last touch on the ball and finishing the game well, and on Saturday we showed the quality we’ve got.

We’ve being working on being more clinical, finishing off teams. We’ve been dominating a lot of sides but allowing them back into the game and letting them off the hook. But we really stuck it to Reading and finished them off. To win 5-0, and score so many goals again at home, was perfect.

Aluko had a nervy moment after he had began celebrating his fine own effort when the assistant referee in front of the Johnny Haynes stand raised his flag, believing that Chris Martin had diverted the former Hull City man’s shot into the net, but eventually the goal was given.

The referee took a bit of convincing that Chris hadn’t touched it. So it was a bit of a tense moment, but eventually we got the goal and that ultimately closed off the game. I felt their spirits were broken after that.

Aluko admits that Reading’s visit – with the Royals having previously put together a five-match winning streak – had concentrated minds amonst the Fulham players and the squad are striving to find the consistency that eluded them so far this year in the Championship.

Their consistency is what we’re aiming for. And we can do that. Huddersfield, when they came here, they were third in the league, Reading were flying high too, so to turn them over the way we did is testament to where we can be.

I’ve always said I feel we should be higher in the league, it’s just a case of turning our great performances into wins more consistently. But hopefully that’s coming. At the start of the season our home form wasn’t great, now it’s looking very strong, so we’re getting there, it’s starting to click.

Aluko was quick to dismiss the significance of the emerging league table, however, insisting that there was still far too much football to be played in one of Europe’s toughest divisions to start seriously considering the possibility of participation in the play-offs.

It’s all about the points. The positions right now don’t really matter, it’s where we finish at the end of the season. But to collect another three points is huge, I think we’re just four points off fourth, so we’re not too far away.

It doesn’t matter who we play in this league now, we’ve proved that we don’t fear anyone. On our day we can beat the top teams, as we showed on Saturday. We beat Newcastle, we did well against Brighton.  We’re more concerned about how we play and how we finish moves, rather than the form of the other team. Reading had won five in a row and we’ve gone and beaten them comfortably, so we don’t fear anybody.